Occupation's War Minister Retracts His Statements Regarding Settlement in Northern Gaza

The political corridors witnessed on Tuesday a state of confusion and tension following controversial statements made by the Occupation's War Minister, Yisrael Katz, regarding the army's permanent stay in the Gaza Strip, statements that led to American anger expressed by influential officials in Washington.

Katz was forced to quickly retract his position, issuing a clarifying statement through his office confirming that the government does not intend to build settlements in the sector, attempting to justify the presence of the "Nahal Brigade" as purely for security purposes, in an effort to contain the diplomatic crisis with the American ally.

The spark of the crisis erupted during Katz's participation in the ceremony of signing an agreement to build 1200 housing units in the "Beit El" settlement near Ramallah in the West Bank, where he claimed at the time that the army would never fully withdraw from Gaza, and even went beyond that by saying that the occupation would establish settlement outposts in the north of the sector at the appropriate time.

These surprising statements prompted firm American intervention, where an official at the military coordination headquarters led by Washington said that the Americans demanded broad clarifications, considering that this approach completely contradicts the "Trump Plan" for peace, which stipulates a gradual and complete withdrawal of the army from the sector.

For its part, Hamas did not delay in responding to these threats, as its spokesperson, Hazem Qassem, appeared in a video speech describing Katz's positions as a "blatant violation" of the ceasefire agreement signed last October.

Qassem accused the occupation of pre-planning to displace Gaza's residents, pointing out that these intentions strike at the international understandings that US President Donald Trump sought to establish in the region, which prohibit the re-establishment of civilian settlements in the coastal sector.

Although the Occupation's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had repeatedly ruled out during the war the possibility of returning to settlement in Gaza, his war minister's statements revealed the extent of the pressures exerted by the extremist members in the ruling coalition to re-occupy the sector.

The firm American position, which manifested in rejecting any new settlement expansion, remains the stumbling block in front of the ambitions of the far-right, and the main driver for Katz's retraction of his statements that almost swept away the fragile ceasefire agreement.